Gloster Gladiator

On 3 December, the Gladiators were reinforced with elements from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The following day, a combat between 20 Gladiators and ten CR.42s, resulted in five downed, two of them Italians.

After a break of two weeks, 80 Sqn returned to operations on 19 December 1940.

On 21 December, 20 Gladiators intercepted 15 CR.42 Falcos, shooting down two with nine losses , and over the next few days, several groups of Italian [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bombers were also encountered, and victories claimed.

The complete 112 Sqn moved to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] by the end of January 1941, and by the end of February that year, had
received 80 Sqn’s Gladiators, after the latter unit had converted to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

On 5 April, German forces [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and quickly established air superiority.

As the Allied troops retreated, Gladiators covered them, before flying to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] during the last week of April.

There No 112 Sqn recorded a few claims over twin-engined aircraft, before being evacuated to[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Anglo-Iraqi War


The Royal Iraqi Air Force (RoIAF) had, since Iraq was granted independence in 1932, been trained and equipped by the British.

One result of this was the dominance of British-built aircraft in the RoIAF inventory.

In 1941, the sole RoIAF single-purpose fighter squadron, No. 4 Squadron consisted of seven operational Gloster Gladiators, at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

After a pre-emptive RAF attack from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] against blockading Iraqi forces Iraqi Gladiators took part in attacks on the British air base, strafing it ineffectively on 2 May.

Although much of the RoIAF was destroyed in the air or on the ground in the following days the Iraqi Gladiators kept flying until the end of the war, carrying out strafing attacks on A Company of 1 Battalion The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on the outskirts of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on 30 May.

Before the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq the 4th Service Training School at RAF Habbaniya operated three old Gladiators as officers' runabouts.

With the increased tension the base was reinforced with another six Gladiators on 19 April, flying in from Egypt.

During the early part of the war the nine Gladiators flew numerous sorties against air and ground targets, taking off from the base' [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] field.

The Gladiator force in Iraq was further reinforced when, on 11 May, another five aircraft arrived, this time from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

A last resupply of Gladiators came on 17 May in the form of four more 94 Squadron machines.

During the fighting the sole Gladiator-on-Gladiator kill occurred on 5 May, when Plt. Off.

Watson of the Fighter Flight shot down an Iraqi Gladiator over [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] during a bomber escort mission.

The Iraqi Gladiators' only claim during the war was a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bomber shared with ground fire on 4 May.

Immediately after launching his coup against king [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in early April 1941 prime minister [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] approached Germany and Italy for help in repelling any British counter-measures.

In response to this the Germans assembled a Luftwaffe task force under Iraqi colours called [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]
("Flyer Command Iraq") which from 14 May operated out of Mosul.

Before this force collapsed due to lack of supplies, replacements, quality fuel and aggressive RAF attacks two
Gladiators fought a pair of Me 110s over Rashid Airfield at Baghdad on 17 May.

Both German machines were swiftly shot down.

The Iraqis continued to use Gladiators until 1949 for ground attack missions against the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Syria


After the end of the Iraq fighting the British decided to invade Vichy French-controlled Syria to prevent the area to fall under direct German control.

The French in Syria had supported the Iraqi rebellion materially and allowed Luftwaffe aircraft to use their airfields for
operations over Iraq.

The month-long [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in June-July 1941 saw heavy fighting both in the air and on land, until the Vichy French authorities in Syria surrendered on 12 July 1941.

In one encounter between the Royal Air Force and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on 15 June 1941 six Gloster Gladiators were jumped by an equal number of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] monoplane fighter aircraft.

In a confused battle both sides lost one aircraft shot down and one severely damaged. French fighter ace [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] shot down the Gladiator lost, for his 15th confirmed kill.

Le Gloan himself had to crash land his damaged D.520 at his own air base.

Asia


The Gloster Gladiator had its combat début on 24 February 1938, when Chinese Gladiators downed two Japanese [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] navy fighters in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] area.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] scored several more victories over Japanese aircraft between 1938-1940 during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

In China Gladiators were used extensively before the start of 1940 by the 28th, 29th and 32nd Squadrons of the 3rd Group.

The Chinese pilots considered the Gladiator an excellent fighter in its class.

In comparison to its major opponents of the time, such as the Mitsubishi A5M, the Gladiator was only a little slower and superior in all other aspects such as turning rate, etc.

However, when newer Japanese aircraft such as the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] entered the battles, the Gladiators' days were numbered.

American born Chinese pilots, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] became the first Gladiator [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and first American fighter ace of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] respectively,
and were among a group of 15 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] whom formed the first and original group of American volunteer combat aviators countering the Japanese imperial aggressions in China.

As late as mid-1941 the RAF Chief-of-Air Staff offered 21 Gloster Gladiators gathered from various meteorological and communications flights in the Middle East, as well as five from a Free French unit,
to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in order to strengthen the colony's defences against the emerging Japanese threat.

The offer was turned down by AOC Singapore and later reinforcements consisted of Hawker Hurricanes.

Operations elsewhere


Belgian Gladiators suffered heavy losses [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], with all 15 operational aircraft lost, and themselves managing only to damage two German aircraft.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was supplied with four Gladiators on 9 March 1939. On 29 December 1940, two Irish Gladiators were scrambled from [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to intercept a German Ju 88 flying over Dublin on a photographic reconnaissance mission, but were unable to make contact with the Luftwaffe aircraft.

Although unable to intercept any intruding aircraft, the Irish Gladiators shot down several British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] that had broken from their moorings.

For a short time in 1940 an order was given to Irish fighter pilots to use their aircraft to block the runways of airfields.

They were then to use rifles and shoot at any invaders.

Irish Gladiators also overflew the site of the sinking of the liner [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1939 and offered the help of the Irish military.

The flight was fired upon by Royal Navy ships in attendance, consequently, the Irish Gladiators withdrew without pursuing the matter further.

The Luftwaffe used captured Latvian Gladiators as glider tugs with Erganszungsgruppe (S) 1 from
Langendiebach near Hanau during 1942-3.

After becoming obsolete RAF Gladiators carried out non-combat tasks such as meteorological work.

Variants


SS.37

Prototype.


Gladiator I

Version powered by a single 840 hp (627 kW) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] IX air-cooled radial piston engine.

The aircraft was designated J 8 in Swedish Air Force service. Delivered 1937-38, 378 built.


Gladiator II

Version powered by a single Bristol Mercury VIIIA air-cooled radial piston engine.
The aircraft was designated J 8A in Swedish Air Force service, 270 built.


Sea Gladiator Interim

Single-seat fighter biplane for the Royal Navy, 38 built.
Fitted with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. Serial numbers: N2265 - N2302.


Sea Gladiator

Single-seat fighter biplane for the Royal Navy, 60 built. Fitted with arrestor hooks and provision for [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] stowage. Serial numbers: N5500 - N5549 and N5565 - N5574.

Survivors


Gladiators have been preserved at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Fighter Collection at Duxford, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], UK), the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], UK).

One Swedish Gladiator Mk I is preserved in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] markings at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in Malmen, just outside of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].